Sibelius Chord Notation Fonts: Opus Standard, Norfolk ASL Standard and Norfolk ASC Standard

Update: After working in my scores with these different chord fonts, I prefer Norfolk Chord ASL Standard for all layouts (Full Score, Piano/Vocal, and Parts)

Getting the right chord font for notation software is a big deal for the player that has to read the music on the fly. Often I’m orchestrating scores for shows that I am working on and I need the fonts to be intuitive. When a score is laid out well visually then it’s a pleasure to play through scores for rehearsals and performance. I can’t waste a split second trying to differentiate a chord marking. It needs to be crystal clear.

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Why I use Sibelius notation software

The endless debate on which notation software to use seems to now be centered on Finale vs. Sibelius vs. Dorico. I’ve been using Sibelius since 2007 and I love it, while at the same time I feel a little shame that I haven’t mastered Finale. Here are some of the reasons why I’m once again sticking with Sibelius (while also feeling ashamed).

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WordPress sitemap page empty

My WordPress sitemap page was empty and it took me a while to locate the problem. Hopefully this is helpful to another user.

Problem:

Sitemap.xml page empty. Page only had header information without content. Showed as blank page.

Source of Problem:

I was using the WordPress plugin WPcache which was prevent three different sitemap generation plugins from working.

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WordPress Disable Sidebars

My blog was started back in 2006 with WordPress and over time the categories have gotten crazy out of hand. I write about the shows I work on, my original productions, science, religion, software and everything in between. It’s bad practice from an SEO standpoint and bad for focused business marketing, but it’s my personal blog so it is what it is.

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My Top Picks for 2015 Technology Customer Service

EASTWEST_Hollywood Strings Ships

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godaddy

As music producers we use a lot of different software formats. With my music libraries alone I counted 18 different companies that I’ve worked with in the last year. Most needing their own installation procedures and authorizations. It’s just part of the business and quickly leads to the no-fun zone.

Overall I think customer service across the board has improved greatly in the technology and music app sectors over the last ten years. There are three companies which have really stood out to me above all the rest in 2015 for outstanding customer service.

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Finale vs. Sibelius

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(Overture from Romeo and Juliet the musical by Conrad Askland – Sibelius screen shot)

Here it is late 2015 and there is still the grand debate of whether to use Sibelius or Finale as your main music notation software. You can read hundreds of technical break downs that compare the two. Here, I will give you a real-world breakdown of my experience with both programs.

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“Steve Jobs” Movie 2015 – Objective vs. Subjective

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Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay for the 2015 movie “Steve Jobs”. I just saw the film and absolutely loved it. It has had disappointing ticket sales so far but has a very respectable 85% review rate from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

One of the complaints from tech heads is that some of the true facts have been adjusted for the screenplay to make it a better film. In the link below, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin explains the difference between “subjective” and “objective”; or in other words that some have said, “this is not a documentary, this is a painting.”

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Sibelius and MainStage for Music Scoring

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(Score sample of Keyboard Two part from Conrad Askland’s “Romeo and Juliet – the musical”, July 2014)

As I’m working on orchestrations for my third full length musical, “Romeo and Juliet” (http://www.RJmusical.com), I realize the need for a particular scoring approach for the Keyboard Two part. Here is the solution I came up with to incorporate Apple’s MainStage with Sibelius for use in orchestrations and creating the final Keyboard Two patch setup.

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Sibelius – Part Name Prints Over Header Title on Subsequent Pages

In Sibelius notation software there’s a great feature where part names automatically print at the top of each page. Unfortunately this is also where your song title and subtitle are placed by default. The end result is that at the top header of each page over the first title page, the part title (full score, keyboard/vocal, trombone, etc.) prints on top of the title text and makes it all unreadable. The part name clashes on top of the title header text.

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SWTOR Massive Beta Testing Begins November 2011

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9pXEXBmKvA

BETA testing just opened for everyone that signed up early and opted in. See you soon in The Old Republic!

SWTOR.com is Star Wars the Old Republic – an new MMORPG game from Bioware, Electronic Arts and Lucas Arts. Video above are some of the design team stating their opinions of the Sith Inquisitor vs the Trooper. Mmmm……I think I’m sold on the Sith Inquisitor. For those of us playing SWTOR that used to play Warcraft (which is probably most everyone) this seems a little like the Orc Warrior vs. a Rogue with some Mage abilities.

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